Mallorca - villa or package holiday?

[octoberdays]

Have visited Mallorca 2 or 3 times before kids, in beautiful little cottages with pools, one near Pollensa, one near Fornalutx, Soller.

So DD is 4. Only child. Want to book another lovely villa I've found between Pollensa and PP, and do beach trips, boat trips, drive all over the island, lounge at the pool.

But should we opt for a hotel break this year?

After self-catering in France for the last 2 years, I'm half tempted by half board (can't get my head round AI), splash pool, stuff for DD to do, etc etc but have never been to a resort hotel ever and it's really not my cup of tea. But won't my DD love the slides etc? Shall I just get over myself and go for it (e.g Zafiro Can Picafort?) or do what I know and love - i.e. independent holiday, but then no company for DD and blimmin' cooking every night. (Next year, I'll look at eurocamps with another family or a cottage cluster but I really fancy Mallorca this year). It will be early-mid July, just before school holidays.

Help me stop obsessive online searches and book something, please! :-) Thank you!

Personally I’d go for the Villa. Hell is other people But seriously with a 4 year old in a hotel you’ll spend your evening sitting on the balcony and won’t want to venture in to the room for wee in case you wake her up. In the villa you’ll be chilling by the pool with DH enjoying a nice relaxing evening. And take her to a water park one day to get her splash slide fix.

Thank you so much! Very wise words. You've convinced me :)

No problem

I do love hotel holidays during the day but they’re a nightmare in the evenings when you’ve got small kids who need to be in bed early. Just eat out at lunch and do easy dinners like a barbecue and salads to ensure you get a break from the cooking!

Still wobbling this morning, argh! Need a bit more convincing, I think! It was your 'I love hotel holidays...' that has sent me scrambling back to the package pages...!

We go to a hotel where the rooms are essentially converted one bedroom apartments - which gives flexibility at night. It’s a smallish place in Pollensa so not too much in the way of people soup.

It’s very family friendly - activities for the children stop them getting bored. As DD is an only one it helps that she can make friends with other children and has someone to play with.

I too would consider a hotel which has accommodation comprising one or two bed apartments/ aparthotel. You would get the company/ activities for your DD and some of your meals made (if you wanted) but still have a decent sized space in which to spend time in/ prepare easy meals in your hotel apartment. Plus you can go to loo after they go to bed without the fear!

FWIW, we love villa holidays and out main summer holiday is usually a villa with other families. However, if it is just us, we would tend to go for a hotel, in part because self-catering is a lot more effort with fewer adults to share the cooking and in part because the DC do like to spend at least some time with other children. We do research the hotel very carefully (eg we dont like lots of evening entertainment) and also try to find somewhere that has some basic self catering facilities for some meals, because a formal sit down for every meal can be a bit too much for littler DC.
We have also done a villa in a small complex of villas with shares facilities, and that can be a good compromise (although no recommendations of this in Majorca)

I'm grateful for all your replies - thank you.

Can I ask which aparthotel in Pollensa, cazzyg? For future reference only unfortunately, as I went ahead and booked the villa, in a bit of panic this lunchtime that it would go...! Only just returned to my thread here, doh. I may have made the wrong decision but there we go....! Thanks all. Will bear in mind for future holidays...

WhyOhWine, if I could have found a hotel without any entertainment in the evening I might have gone for it! Do you have any recommendations?

Yes, agree villa complexes good. Think France in particular good for that, but didn't fancy another week of cloud as we had last year in the Dordogne!

I don't think you could make a wrong decision between a villa and somewhere else tbh. A holiday is always a lovely thing! I'm sure you'll have a great time.

I know you weren't asking but we've stayed in Puerto Pollensa in VillaConcha -an aparthotel with one bed apartments. Stayed slightly off season but v low key and no entertainment spotted in evening. Also stayed in Hobby Club apartments in PP. No meals provided but nice apartments and pool, beach and restaurants literally just outside door, Spar supermarket next door. We really enjoyed both sets of accommodation.

We stay at the Puerto Azul, Villa Concha is similar but I prefer the Puerto Azul’s location.

My kids don’t think it’s a holiday if there’s not a mini disco!

I don’t love big AI hotel holidays either but a villa feels a bit too much like being at home for us.

What would be ideal would be little cottages, maybe with their own pool but also with a bigger pool complex and good eating options and enough activities for the kids without being trashy and tacky (looks at first choice holiday villages).

I guess a bit like a eurocamp site but with nicer accommodation.

Periyali in Zakynthos is probably the closest I’ve found but doesn’t have the dates we need this year...

Thanks, all! Puerto Azul and Villa Concha were both ones I seriously considered. I still might tag on three nights in a hotel if I can persuade DH... trouble is, rates if you book directly are either pretty pricey compared to going through an operator, or only bookable through an operator (like the Azul, I think). I will look again at both Villa Concha again and Hobby Club, ovenchips. Thanks!

I agree, BonApp - all that would be ideal!

Periyali looked very inviting, I must say, but for us too the dates weren't right this year (though when I initially looked I was a bit at the prices! Ouch).

and thank you for your kind words re booking the villa, ovenchips

I think you have done the right thing to book a villa when you have a small child. Much more relaxing in the evenings, your dd can go to bed, you can sit out on the terrace or poolside with a glass of wine, and not worry about waking your child.

Eat out as often as your budget allows, or just have simple salads, bbqs etc, or takeaways.

I take that back. Booking direct at say, Puerto Azul definitely looks doable online.

At that age I would book a villa. Eat out at lunchtime, have some say dinners at the villa and enjoy a bit of time with DH in the evening.

We changed from villa holidays to hotels when DC was 6. Those couple of years made a big difference.

Email them - you can either book direct or via booking.com,

We've just booked up for fuerteventura for next month with out 4 and 2 year old girls - I'd say hotel as your lo would love the evening entertainment and having other kids to play with ❤
We love all inclusive! You don't have to eat every meal at your hotel - but it's so good knowing you can! There's a great travel rewards club I'm in that let's you book cheap as chips and even gives you money off future travel- it's frikking amazing! I've just saved £100 on our holiday next month 🤗

Hijacking to ask what are these lovely villas you have stayed st before op? We are thinking about 2019 :)

We've stayed at Puerto Azul a couple of times with Jet2 Holidays. If you think a 9pm bedtime is doable then the mini disco was always 8.30 -9pm every night and kids absolutely loved it. Buffet dinner not usually my thing but it was pretty nice as these things go and took the hassle out of having to think about dinner every night. Only real downside was lack of sunloungers but dh took the 'if you can't beat then join them' mantra and did what everyone else did and reserved a couple on the way to breakfast. Great location too.